Foil Maker

hi

i've been playing with the foil maker program for the last few days, and have designed the most half arsed set of kites possible

Now that i'm totally addicted to playing with this program, and dead set on actually making something, i have a few questions.....

1. Out of the few 'sensible' designs (ones that may actually have a chance of flying), how can i determine which will be the best design ? 2. There are so many tweaks you can apply in the design stage, what's good and what's bad ? 3. Which cell profiles are the most efficient ? 4. How does the curvature of the canopy affect the performance?

Does anyone have any information on designing and building foils? I've followed the links from the foilmaker site, but haven't seen any discussions relating to performance issues, shapes, aspect ratios, cell profiles, bridle arrangements ect.....

When i do start to make something, i'd rather have some basic knowledge as opposed to learning from trial and error

cheers q

Yes Yes Yes

Me too!

What are the profile files loaded with the program - are they any good?

What is the formula for different aspects? i.e. speed, power, stability, precision, resistance to folding,

To give it a go and print 300 pages, cut, tape, sew, bridal, only to find a great big thing that doesn't fly will sour my enthusiasm rapidly.

Does anybody have experience with the program to share?

Regards

Peter Bargholz

Try the following location: http://www.xs4all.nl/~hkulk/main/bouwtekeningen/dominator/dominatorII...

You can download a .kte for the Dominater II

I am almost finished building one, I hope it flies well.

Trevor

On Wed, 13 Sep 2000 17:46:37 +0100, '~ quietertime ~'

Hi Trevor

I saw the dominator plans and wasn't overly taken with it's squareness. I would like to make something curvy. I much prefer the bielliptic than the rhombic-rectangular........

q
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hkulk/main/bouwtekeningen/dominator/ dominatorII...

Quoting ~quietertime~

The Dominator (1) is rhombic but the Dominator 2 is bielliptic. I've made 3 x Dom.2's now: the original 2.6m^2 followed by a 4.0m^2 and a 6.0m^2 and they all fly well. I too prefer to spend my time making something that I am reasonably sure will fly (as long as I don't screw up the sewing). Henry was very helpful with bridle designs for the 4 and 6 m kites. If you've visited xs4all.nl/~hkulk you've probably seen the photos.

I'm also making the dominator II.

I have a question, once you have printed all the templates, how did you get the pattern including the seam allowance onto the ripstop?

...........Gary
http://www.xs4all.nl/~hkulk/main/bouwtekeningen/dominator/ dominatorII...

try cutting them out of cardboard, I'm sure others will have better means, but seems to me that'd work.

This is exactly what I did (I'm building an Eliminator as my first foil). I cut out two cardboard templates - one with seam allowance, one without to sketch the seam line with. Seems to have worked (although the kite isn't finished yet

the kite i made using foil maker looks good but the bridle dimensions it gave are absolute pants!! anyone else had this trouble and how do i fix

Gary

I laid the ripstop over the pattern and cut it out using a 'Weller' Instant soldering iron fitted with a cutting blade. (They cost about £15 from B&Q) This has the advantage of sealing the edges as you cut and it is very quick. It also sticks the ripstop to the paper. I then traced the seam lines using a biro or pencil. Once complete, you can peal off the ripstop and repeat the process for the other side. I then left the panel attached to the paper until I was ready to sew it up. Remember to turn the ripstop over for the second panel as one side has a different finish to the other. I numbered each panel on the trailing edge seam. This proved valuable when you come to sew them up.

Hope that helps

Trevor

I just laid the paper template onto the ripstop, and ran a hot-knife (well...a soldering iron with a pointy tip) aroung the edge. Works fine...